Feds arrest Mass. senator on corruption charges

BOSTON 
A state senator who lost the Democratic primary last month was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday and charged with accepting $23,500 in bribes from undercover agents she believed were local businessmen.

Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was charged with attempted extortion as a public official and theft of honest services as a state senator. She did not enter a plea during an initial court appearance Tuesday.

She faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines on each count.

Wilkerson, 53, lost the Democratic primary in September to former teacher Sonia Chang-Diaz despite support from Mayor Thomas Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick. She is running a write-in campaign for the Nov. 4 election, in hopes of retaining the seat she has held since 1993.

Wilkerson was ordered Tuesday to have no contact with witnesses and retain any documents related to the extortion case or to her personal finances.

In asking for those conditions, Assistant U.S. Attorney John McNeil said Wilkerson has a "long history of acting as if she is above the law."

Wilkerson's attorney, Max Stern, said she would obey the judge. She has been released on an unsecured $50,000 bond.

U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said it was coincidental the complaint was filed a week before the election. He also said he did not believe any other public officials mentioned in Wilkerson's dealings took a bribe.

The new charges are the latest in a string of troubles to plague the lawmaker, Massachusetts' only black state senator.

According to a federal criminal complaint, Wilkerson was recorded by audio and videotape accepting bribes in exchange for helping a proposed nightclub in her district get a liquor license. She also allegedly accepted payments for helping an undercover officer posing as a businessman who wanted to develop state property in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.

The complaint said Wilkerson took $10,000 earlier this month to fund her write-in campaign.

Sullivan said Wilkerson accepted eight payments, ranging from $500 to $10,000, during the 17-month investigation.

An FBI affidavit filed in court includes a series of still photographs from video recordings allegedly showing Wilkerson accepting cash. In one photograph, taken in June 2007, Wilkerson appears to be stuffing a pile of cash under her sweater and inside her bra.

Stern suggested the released surveillance photos do not tell the entire story.

"I'm sure you know there is a context to every one of the interactions you have been told about, there is something that happens before and there is something that happens after that has not been included in what you have been shown," he told reporters after the hearing.

"Voters and taxpayers expect that elected officials will do what's right for their constituents, not what is financially best for themselves," Sullivan said.

State Senate President Therese Murray, who had endorsed Wilkerson and campaigned with her, said she was seeking an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee and would remove the senator from her post as chairwoman of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

The governor earlier had called the allegations "troubling and sad."

"If these charges are proven to be true, Sen. Wilkerson should resign," Patrick said in a later statement, a call supported by State Senate Republican Leader Richard Tisei.

The state Bar Counsel last week also filed a complaint against Wilkerson accusing her of lying under oath in an effort to overturn her nephew's voluntary manslaughter conviction. The penalty could include disbarment. She has denied those allegations.

Over the years, she has also faced accusations of failing to account for donations and personal reimbursements, failing to pay federal income taxes and failure to properly report consultant fees she received from a bank for which she lobbied.